:: Rick's heart procedure ::

Today was the day of Rick's cardiac ablation. I wanted to post during his actual procedure but just couldn't bring myself to talk too much about it. Now that he is back in front of me & resting well I am able to post this blog. Rick has had a heart arrhythmia since he was about 11 years old. Basically this means he has a "short circuit" of electrical flow that disturbs the normal heart rhythm. He has an extra electrical pathway and sometimes the electrical flow gets blocked on continuously travels this extra loop. When this happens, Rick's normal heart rate of 72 beats a minute jumps up to 200-250 beats a minute. It is very painful, causes blurred peripheral vision, & leaves him with no energy for the rest of the day. Now that he is finally working a steady full-time job with insurance (main factor) he decided to have this condition fixed. The procedure took about 4 hours total. Catheters were inserted into his femoral vein (groin). The catheters were fed up to his heart. The doctor had to stimulate his heart & force it to go into an episode so they would know where the extra electrical pathway was. They found it to be in the upper chamber near the AV node. Once the docs found the damaged site they were able to burn off this extra pathway. He was given a 90-95% chance that this will completely cure his condition. He is resting well. We will stay overnight & should be discharged by noon tomorrow. We had a big crowd in the waiting room today. Thanks to everyone that was there. We both really appreciate it!